he said most of my records were the original dixieland jazz band but i had caruso too, they were all my favorites, and then there was the irish tenor, john mccormick, beautiful phrasing, but his style was also permeated with the you've beauty of the blues, and if it watts his way to sing them and play them with a smile, he knew as well as anyone that the world of which he sang could be a hurtful place. he said, like when i play maybe back a town blues, i'm thinking about one of the old low down moments like when maybe your woman didn't treat you right. that's a hell of a moment when a woman tell you i've got another mule in my stall. even the classical melodies he loved, took on a new tint, when passed through the prism of his vast experience. i seen everything from a child coming up, he said, nothing happened, i ain't never seen before. he was forever reflecting on the things he had seen, sometimes on paper, but more often, with his horn. he wrote, when i blow, i think of times and things from out of the past that gives me an image of the tune, like moving pictures, passing in front